Waconia show choirs ready to rock the stage

When it comes to high school news, prep sports often take center stage.
At Waconia, however, center stage is reserved for the school’s show choir program, which is set to shine brighter than ever this year. Waconia is preparing for the start of its competitive show choir season, which opens at Bloomington Kennedy on Jan. 19.
If one can’t wait until Jan. 19, however, they’re in luck — all five of the school’s show choirs will offer a sneak peak of their shows during the 13th annual Spaghetti Dinner, which will be held at Waconia High School from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 11. The event is an annual fundraiser for the school’s show choir program.
“Our spaghetti dinner has become a really popular event to the point that we really struggled getting people in to see the shows last year,” said Aaron Olson, director of vocal music at Waconia High School. “We had 400 people waiting in the lobby to get into the auditorium, but nobody would leave the auditorium once they got in there.”
To alleviate this, major changes have been instituted for this year’s event.
“We’re selling each one of the shows individually and the auditorium will be emptied after each show,” said Olson, explaining there will be five separate concerts, each featuring different combinations of the school’s five show choirs.
“We’ve packaged them so people can choose which ones they want to see. We tried to put a good variety of the high school and middle school groups,” he said. “Each concert will be a little bit different but they’ll all be good.”
The schedule is as follows:
• 4 p.m. — Pulse and The Current
• 5 p.m. — Pulse, Illuminations and Power Company
• 6 p.m. — Shockwave, Illuminations and The Current
• 7 p.m. — Shockwave and Power Company
• 8 p.m. — Illuminations, The Current and Power Company
Another major change this year is the cost to attend the event. Last year, the price was $15 per person for dinner and the show. This year, tickets will be $7 per person per concert, and that includes dinner. Olson called the offer “a heck of a deal” and encouraged people to order their tickets online at www.waconiachoirs.org.
The shows will not feature general admission — seating will be reserved. When ordering online, one will be able to select the seats they want from whatever …